#1266: LEISEN, Mitchell: Midnight (1939)

-
LEISEN, Mitchell (United States)
Midnight [1939]
Spine #1266
Blu-ray


Screwball comedy doesn’t get any more effortlessly elegant and gleefully irreverent than this roulette wheel of romantic deception, gleaming with cunning wit and Continental élan. A couture-clad Claudette Colbert is divine as a penniless American showgirl who crashes Parisian high society by posing as a wealthy Hungarian baroness—but both a scheming nobleman (John Barrymore) and a smitten taxi driver (Don Ameche) are soon on to her game. Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett’s sophisticated script—a typically subversive blend of fairy-tale escapism and caustic social observation—and the pitch-perfect direction of master craftsman Mitchell Leisen yield a topsy-turvy Cinderella story with a cynical bite.

94 minutes
Monaural
Black and White
1:37:1
Criterion Release 2025

Directors/Writer

Mitchell Leisen was 41 when he directed Midnight.

The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Commentary

Video tribute

Documentary 1

Documentary 2

Documentary 3

Controversial altered ending

Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

By Spine #

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Complete Criterion Collection By Director

-
THE COMPLETE CRITERION COLLECTION BY DIRECTOR ADOLPHSON, Edvin (1893-1979) & WALLÉN, Sigurd (1884-1947) {Sweden} The Count Of The Old Town [1935] {Eclipse #46} AKAD, Lüfti Ö. (1916-2011) {Turkey} Law Of The Border [1966] {Spine #878} AKERMAN, Chantal (1950-2015) {Belgium} Saute ma ville [1968] {Spine #1203a} L'enfant aimé, ou Je à être une femme mariée [1971] {Spine #1203b} La Chambre [1972] {Eclipse #19/Spine #1203c} Hotel Monterey (United States) [1972] {Eclipse #19/Spine #1203d} Le 15/8 [1973] {Spine #1203e} Je Tu Il Elle (France) [1975] {Eclipse #19/Spine #1203f} Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles [1975] {Spine #484} News From Home (United States) [1976] {Eclipse #19/Spine #1203g} Les Rendez-Vous D'Anna (France) [1978] {Eclipse #19/Spine #1203h} ALDRICH, Robert (1918-1983) {United States} Kiss Me Deadly [1955] {Spine #568}  [ 87 ] Flight Of The Phoenix [1965] {Spine #1116} ALLÉGRET, Marc (1900-1973)...
Read more

#331: OZU, Yasujiro: Late Spring (1949)

-
Image
OZU, Yasujiro (Japan) Late Spring [1949] Spine #331 DVD One of the most powerful of Yasujiro Ozu's family portraits, Late Spring (Banshun) tells the story of a widowed father who feels compelled to marry off his beloved only daughter. Eminent Ozu players Chishu Ryu and Setsuko Hara command this poignant tale of love and loss in postwar Japan, which remains as potent today as ever — almost alone justifying Ozu's inclusion in the pantheon of cinema's greatest directors. 108 minutes Black & White Monaural in Japanese 1:33:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2006 Director/Writers Based on the novel Chichi to musume (Father and Daughter) by Kazuo Hirotsu . Script by Kogo Noda and  Yasujiro Ozu . Ozu was 46 when he directed Late Spring . Other Ozu films in the Collection: Eclipse Series 42: Walk Cheerfully (1930) Eclipse Series 42: That Night's Wife (1930) Eclipse Series 10: Tokyo Chorus (1931) Eclipse Series 10: I Was Born, But . . . (1932) Ec...
Read more

#589: KIEŚLOWSKI, Krzysztof: Three Colors: White (1994)

-
Image
THREE COLORS {Spine #587} KIEŚLOWSKI, Krzysztof (France) Three Colors: White [1994] Spine #589 Blu-ray The most plalyful and also the grittiest of Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors films follows the adventures of Karol Karol, a Polish immigrant living in France. The hapless hairdresser opts to leave Paris for his native Warsaw when his wife sues him for divorce (her reason: their marriage was never consummated) and then frames him for arson after setting her own salon ablaze. White , which goes on to chronicle Karol Karol's elaborate revenge plot, manages to be both a ticklish dark comedy about the economic inequalities of Eastern and Western Europe and a sublime reverie on twisted love. 91 minutes Color 2.0 Surround in French and Polish 1:85:1 aspect ratio Criterion Release 2011 Director/Writers Screenplay by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and  Krzysztof Kieślowski . Kie ś lowski was 52 when he directed  White . ** K ie ś lowski ’s earliest films were docu...
Read more